Quebec’s Joshua Roy had two goals and two assists to guide Canada to a 6-2 victory over the United States on Wednesday night in the final semi-final of the World Junior Hockey Championship.
The Montreal Canadiens prospect was involved in his team’s first two goals and then scored an important goal in the second period.
Roy sealed the game in an empty net to tie Jonathan Huberdeau for the most career points by a Quebecer at this tournament.
The brilliance of the Sherbrooke Phoenix player allowed Canada to return to the tournament final on Thursday night. The defending champions will do battle with the Czech Republic, who had defeated the troupe of Dennis Williams in the curtain raiser of the World Cup.
Connor Bedard, Logan Stankoven, Adam Fantilli and Brandt Clarke all had a goal and an assist for the Canadians, who won the gold medal against Finland last August.
Goaltender Thomas Milic guarded the fort for Junior Team Canada and stepped up after his team trailed by two goals. He stopped 43 pucks.
Logan Cooley and Kenny Connors flashed the red light for the United States, which will face Sweden on Thursday for the bronze medal.
Young Trey Augustine did a good job early in the game, but the Canadian offense found a way to thwart it. The draft-eligible American goaltender finished the game with 31 saves.
Slowly but surely
The Americans calmed down the fans after just 79 seconds of play. Ryan Ufko’s point shot hit Cooley, who picked up the puck at his feet to beat Milic between the pads. Canada’s goalie seemed to lose sight of the puck on the streak.
Canada had a great chance to tie the game when Dylan Duke took a penalty, but despite some good shots, Augustine and USA held on.
This work from the shorthanded Americans was rewarded a few minutes later, when Connors escaped Ethan Del Mastro’s cover to jump on a return throw and double the lead for his team.
Del Mastro redeemed himself just over a minute later, however, when he served a superb pass to Bedard, who redirected the puck into the top of the net.
Team Canada Junior came out of the locker room with a knife between their teeth and took only 47 seconds to tie the score in the second period. Brandt Clarke came forward to take a shot and the return landed on Stankoven’s stickblade, which scored.
The two rivals exchanged a great opportunity to score, without however taking advantage of it. Fantilli hit the post on a one-timer as Chaz Lucius was frustrated by Milic on a breakaway.
However, Fantilli recovered moments later and found the right moment to score his first goal of the tournament. Racing to the net, the young striker accepted a superb cross pass from Zach Dean to thwart Augustine.
The Americans thought they had brought both teams back to square one, but Jackson Blake’s goal was disallowed after review due to an obstruction at Milic. And Canada was not asking for so much.
The trio of Bedard-Stankoven-Roy once again acted up and this time it was the hope of the Montreal Canadiens who recovered a loose puck before lodging it with a backhand in the top corner.
Early in the third period, and for the second time in the game, the referees put a damper on the Americans’ celebrations after Rutger McGroarty pushed the puck into the back of the net. A video replay confirmed that the Winnipeg Jets prospect illegally pushed Milic’s pad to create an obstruction.
Representatives of the maple leaf took advantage of this chance to deal a heavy blow to their adversaries. Canadian prospect Owen Beck and Fantilli set the stage for Clarke’s goal, who inherited a loose puck in the slot to thread the needle.
Czechia win
Sabers prospect Jiri Kulich scored at 9:10 in overtime and the Czechs defeated Sweden 2-1 to reach the World Junior Hockey Championship final.
Kulich received a pass from Matyas Sapovaliv down the right flank, outspeeded Fabian Wagner and outplayed Carl Lindbom over the right shoulder.
An 18-year-old center, Kulich was drafted 28th overall last year.
Wagner was selected in the sixth round by the Jets last year; a year earlier, Vegas drafted Lindbom in the seventh round.
Ludvig Jansson scored early in the middle, but Czech David Jiricek leveled the score with 39 seconds left in the third period.
Jiricek was the sixth overall pick in 2022, by Columbus; in the same session, Florida chose Jansson in the fourth round.
Winning goaltender Tomas Suchanek made 21 saves, while Lindbom stopped 29 shots.
The Czech Republic advanced to the gold medal game for the first time since the country triumphed at the 2000 and 2001 tournaments.